9 titles? Are you including Judgment, Tactics and Pop? Pop was shit and doesn’t count. Tactics is for those who wanted a spin off but in a different genre and majority of Gears fans don’t care about that game because it’s not what they want or prefer. As for Judgment, it bombed completely.
Basically, there’s 5 true Gears of War games. If Gears 6 releases in 2023, that’s 6 games in 17 years. It can then go on a decade long break because it needs it. In that decade break, The Coalition can create a new IP which I would much rather see them take full advantage of UE 5 with instead of Gears 6. Gears is Gears. Stealth in gears 5 sucked. Melee was a joke. It was just more Gears and if anything, Hivebusters was better in terms of just being a pure old school Gears game.
Main reason I wouldn’t give Gears a break now is because of the current Kait storyline. I don’t want to wait a decade for her storyline to conclude. It should conclude in 2023. Just like Wolfenstein 3. These storylines should be concluding sooner rather than later.
Besides, I would much rather see what The Coalition can do with a new IP and years of UE 5 experience as opposed to wasting it on just another Gears game which if anything, needs to either be put to rest or be completely rebooted.
My preference would be to end the current storyline with Gears 6. New IP trilogy starting in 2027, 2030 and concluding in 2033. Then, in 2037, they can bring back Gears rebooted.
Only other option would be if The Coalition gets expanded into two studios/teams. One for the new IP and one for Gears which in this case, I would still conclude the Kait storyline in 2023. New IP in 2025. Gears reboot with the characters from Hivebusters or a whole new cast, time era, etc. in 2027. New IP sequel in 2029. A Coalition game every two years alternating between Gears and the new IP. Both of which having 4 year development cycles.
Either way, I would be experimenting with UE 5 on Gears 6 in order to make the new IP better instead of experimenting with a small project just to use what they learned on Gears 6. After all, Gears is Gears and outside of looking better, there isn’t much they can do with the current formula and setup.
